Demand from tenants

The number of prospective tenants registered per member branch increased by eight per cent in March. In February, agents had 61 on their books on average, compared to 66 in March

This comes after an increase in January which saw the number of tenants registered per branch jump to 70.

Supply of rental stock

The number of rental properties letting agents managed increased marginally in March, from 175 in February, to 179 per branch

This is down year on year; in March 2017 agents managed 183 on average.

Rent prices

The number of tenants experiencing rent hikes increased to 23 per cent in March

This is the highest level seen since September 2017 when 27 per cent of landlords put rent costs up for tenants

This figure is down year on year though; in March 2017, 25 per cent of tenants had their rents increased and 32 per cent were subject to rent rises in March 2016 and 2015.

Figure 1: The number of agents witnessing rent hikes in March year-on-year

David Cox

Chief Executive

“This month’s results very much show a ‘business as usual’ period for the private rented sector, but this isn’t necessarily a good thing. Supply is still too low and almost a quarter of tenants are experiencing rent hikes every month as landlords try to recoup the costs lost trying to keep on top of all the recent legislative changes – including the recent energy efficiency deadline. For the last two decades, successive Governments have passed significant amounts of complex legislation for landlords, none of which have been properly policed or adequately enforced – but most of which cost decent landlords a lot of money.

“This is why we’re so supportive of the Government’s proposals to crack down on rogue agents, and more recently, plans to confiscate properties from criminal landlords. The announcements mark a sensible shift towards focusing on the root cause of the issues affecting the sector, rather than trying to find solutions to individual problems. This, coupled with greater rental stock is the key to fixing Britain’s broken rental sector.”

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